If you receive any damaged items on your delivery, please state the full extent of the damage on the driver’s delivery note when signing for the goods. Slow cookers with digital controls may also have a delay start, which is ideal if you’re out of the house for more than eight hours. This means you can start cooking at a time to suit you – while it’s hard to overcook recipes with a lot of liquid, this gives more freedom with dishes that could potentially start to dry out. A timer is another handy feature – this will either turn the machine off after cooking or put it into a limited time keep warm mode. The first thing you need to consider with any slow cooker is its capacity – each will list its bowl size in litres. Bear in mind that this won’t translate to the same amount of food, as you shouldn’t fill slow cookers to the brim. This gap allows your food to bubble and simmer properly. The usable cooking space will be around three-quarters of its bowl size, for example, a five-litre cooker can accommodate around four litres of food.

The other notable thing was how heavy the pot is. It weighs 2.35kg even before it contains food, so it really is a weighty thing to carry to the table. It seems tough though. It would be tempting to drop the pot just to see how tough it is… But you can’t help thinking it could do serious damage to the floor. Should I buy the Swan 3.5 Litre Slow Cooker? Slow cookers are nifty appliances that do all the cooking for you, so you can whip up scrumptious meals without spending hours working away behind a stove. Scottish Highlands & Islands postcodes: AB, FK, HS, IV, KA, KW, PA, PH, ZE, LL58-LL78, IM, TR, PO30-41 They aren’t just for stews and casseroles either. In fact, they're real multi-taskers, even up to the challenge of cooking a whole cut of meat – including sweet and salty coca cola ham or a tender beef joint. Vegetarian family favourites such as macaroni cheese are also a go-to. Take a look at our collection of must-cook slow cooker recipes for more inspiration.When testing these slow cookers we were keen to try out each of their main cooking settings, so while a more simple manual slow cooker was used to make a stew or simple curry, we pressure cooked meat and steamed fish in the more complex slow cookers on the market. When slow cookers came with digital settings we attempted delay-start recipes and tested how easy they were to use. The controls are a little cluttered, but the illustrations make the Sage The Fast Slow Go easy to use and very clear. The lid his hinged, which we don't love, but it does mean the Sage The Fast Slow Go will transition easily between slow cooking and pressure cooking for a range of the cooking modes. Does your slow cooker have good heat distribution? Some can suffer from hot spots that cause drying out in corners or at the base. Uneven heat is something that’s more likely to occur in larger bowls. I was pleased to find it wasn't all substance over style, however. During testing, it was easy to use (it just needs plugging in and the dial adjusting to your chosen setting), and the results were delicious – it produced a tasty, creamy curry without any of the wateriness that can sometimes occur with slow cooker dishes.

If you fail to return the goods, we will collect them, and will charge you the direct cost of collection. If you fail to take reasonable care of the goods before they are returned to us, and this results in damage or deterioration, we will charge you for the reduction in value. Slow cookers range in size from a compact 1.5 litres to a 6.5-litre bowl, so be sure to choose the right size for the way you intend to cook. As a rough guide, 1.5-3 litres will feed one or two people, 3-5 litres, three or four people and anything over five litres should suit a large family, with six litres or more ideal for batch cooks who like to fill the freezer. Alternatively, a larger cooker is great for those who like to eat what’s leftover for lunch the next day. This is not intended to be a full statement of your rights under the Consumer Contracts Regulations. Full details of your rights are available from your Local Authority’s Trading Standards Office. How To Return A ProductOne of the best things about the Drew and Cole Cleverchef Pro is the app, which comes with a huge range of recipes at the touch of a button. Compared to a lot of multi-cookers the Drew and Cole Cleverchef Pro has an uncomplicated display that's simple to customise. A great choice for those who want a smart multi-cooker. Controls are simple. A knob to select from three heat levels: high, low and auto. The latter is the most useful: a high heat until your dish comes up to temperature, then drops to a lower heat to cook slowly and economically. A little red light above the knob indicates whether it’s on or not. An increasingly popular way of cooking, sous-vide is a French term that simply means ‘under vacuum’. You place your food inside a sealed pouch and then pop it into a temperature-controlled water bath to cook. The sides of the slow cooker did get quite hot, so you do need to keep it out of reach of little ones, but the cool-touch handles are a nice feature and make it easy to manoeuvre. It's also relatively lightweight for moving about the kitchen. The Swan Slow Cooker was impressively easy to clean. Both the pot and lid are dishwasher safe, although the instruction manual stresses that care must be taken so the pot doesn't chip.